Tag Archives: kojima

Kojima finally explains what Ogre Project means

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I don’t understand Japanese, but Anoop Gantayat from Andriasang does.  He looks at Kojima’s tweet for us, and explains:

Hideo Kojima has been talking up his mysterious “Project Ogre” at Twitter for the past year. In Japanese, he refers to the project as “Oni Project.” Today, he clarified what the “Oni” means.

There have been a few theories of what the Oni might mean. Perhaps this is such a big project that it’s devilish or demonic. Or perhaps it’s a game that requires Kojima to close off his heart as he makes it (this is from a proverb involving Oni, I believe).

These two are both incorrect, said Kojima at Twitter today. The meaning is more literal. Oni Project is a game that deals with Oni in some capacity.

Oni can be translated to a variety of things, including demon, devil, and, of course, ogre. Based off Kojima’s Tweets, it’s unclear if he’s saying that the game deals with Oni as a subject matter, or if it’s the player who handles Oni in some form (collecting spirits and so-forth).

That’s actually a huge revelation: the game involves actual demons.  Kojima seems to be really passionate about this project, and I can’t wait to see what it’s about.  Sneaking through hell, smoking brimstone cigars and trying to fight a demonic Metal Gear?

Nicholas Carr on the permanence of digital

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Nicholas Carr and Hideo KojimaI found this interesting.  Fans of Metal Gear Solid 2 know that the game comments on the permanence of digital information, portraying traditional culture as fragile and transient, and digital culture as a swelling “flood” of eternally accessible garbage.  Physical records conform to the idea of evolution and natural selection, he suggests.  But yesterday, respected technology prophet and bestselling author Nicholas Carr flipped this idea on its head by suggesting that it’s actually old, physical culture that remains accessible, and digital information that becomes swept away in a stream of technological change…

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Escape From Minako

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1up.com‘s Bob Mackey has written a hilarious parody article on “cancelled games you never knew about” — including one by perpetually creatively-restricted Hideo Kojima:

Escape from Minako Box ArtHideo Kojima hasn’t exactly made a secret of his reluctance to stay onboard the Metal Gear Solid series; every time another sequel rolls around, it’s announced as his last — until Hideo quickly remembers the mafia-esque nature of the Japanese gaming industry means the only way out of Konami is in a body bag. Hell, if Kojima’s employers ever wanted to wreck their aging wunderkind, they’d simply have to mail an box containing his body of work to John Carpenter, James Cameron, and Ridley Scott, causing an avalanche of lawsuits to bury the famed developer until his inevitable death-faking and subsequent identity changing surgery.

Started and scrapped between the development cycles of Metal Gear Solids 2, 3, 4, and Peace Walker, Escape from Minako promised a less-stealthy take on Kojima’s standard style. The game put players in control of a humble robot manufacturer imprisoned at the evil Minako Corporation, forced to build a line of increasing complex and time-consuming behemoths against his will; throughout EFM’s ten stages, said protagonist would slay floors of cyborg executives, finally escaping at the end for a tearful reunion with his family and the concept known by many as “leisure.” When exposed to Kojima’s presentation for the game, Konami’s higher-ups couldn’t help but notice the strong allegory between Escape from Minako and Kojima’s actual working life. To counter such claims, the famed developer simply presented a picture showing the stacks of cash this new IP would bring in. The brass at Konami responded in turn with a 1:10-scale diorama depicting the money a new Metal Gear game would generate, complete with a model train that, when fully built, would carry an entire board of directors through tunnels upon tunnels of currency. A lesson for you would-be developers: when working on a pitch, never neglect the size of your money shot.

Well done, Mackey.

Character creation test in FOX Engine

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This was posted on December 21st on Kojima’s Twitter:

“FOX engine news Vol.3”. Experimenting original system where user chooses the parts to create realistic “avatar” easily. Here’s Lionel, very clever programmer in Kojima Production. This was done in an hr by referring the pic

Obviously this is pretty good, but a naked person with no facial expression and short hair doesn’t show off much.

When combined with the facial animation system, hair and cloth rendering, and foliage, there’s no doubt that the FOX Engine will be a powerful engine most likely on par with DICE’s Frostbyte 2 engine or better.  Customizing your character in that engine sounds fun, but as with all character creation tools, it ultimately depends on the interface, menu system, and options available.  (Personally I always test whether I can choose 3D facial hair, and the ability to make really ugly, old, and yet still correct-looking people.  By this standard, most character creation engines totally fail.)

Kojima showed us some very impressive things apparently on the Xbox 360, and talked about how scalable it is, but considering he talked about making it the best in the world, scalable to fit any platform, it’s something to keep looking forward to as the months go by and the question of the next generation looms larger.  And since he repeatedly refers to the “new game” he’s working on, we can no doubt look forward to the “Devil Project”/”Ogre Project” utilizing this engine, possibly with a character creation tool built in.

Now I’m interested: FOX Engine hints at wet T-shirt game?

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fox engine white shirt underwear

Wow!

Ever the salesman, Kojima relates:

One of the key features about “FOX Engine”, here’s the transparent technique. See-thru underwear.

I must say, the potential is very interesting!  Also, notice how soft that hair looks?  I like soft hair.

Kojima: Twitter quitter?

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Kojima TwitterCould this mean the end of Kojima’s tweeting days?

My iPhone broke last Friday, so I had it replaced at my expense. Couldn’t tweet with the new one for some reasons.  I couldn’t be bothered, so spent the weekend without tweeting.  It was only a three-days, but was the first time in two years to spend time without using Twitter.  Better not to have Twitter for me as a conclusion.

This could be a lousy translation, plus he has made a riveting tweet about ordering eggs since, so let’s cross our fingers and hope that we haven’t seen the last of these and other important messages, sent in 140 characters or less!

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OPM interview reveals two sides of Kojima

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Oh, I love this.

As relayed by Snake Soup, the new OPM interview with Kojima talks about the dual nature of Kojima while creating games:

“In Guns Of The Patriots [Snake] was supposed to die” he continues but admits he was brought around. “Everyone on the staff really wanted to keep him alive, so I caved a little.” In the interview Kojima touches several times on the conflict between being a creator and a producer – being an artist and a businessman don’t always mix. “I’m a creator at heart, but at the same time I also have to manage the business aspect of it, figure out how to sell the game. I’m still trying to find that balance – it’s very delicate. How do you put in enough to make sure it sells, while remaining true to your vision?”

Without delving too deeply, I have discussed this same thing before, especially as it relates to the allegory of Kojima in the Metal Gear series.  Particularly, I believe that Kojima is absolutely expressing this same thing with Naked Snake during the events of Metal Gear Solid 3.

Kojima wants to work on Devil Project

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Kojima TwitterI always find this amusing.  Kojima has been publicly lamenting his inability to find time to work on the codenamed “Devil Project”, which has also been described as the “taboo” game which has the potential to ruin his whole career if it’s not received well.  Apparently he wants to work on it quite badly, but other things keep getting in the way.

This is significant to me for two reasons:

1)  It means that he is still passionate about something.  Ever since the release of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker it’s been hard to tell what he cares about, and it’s good to see that he is itching to work on something that is not only important to him, but potentially so controversial as well.  I haven’t given up on Kojima’s genius, and I believe Peace Walker is an example of that (which will hopefully get more credit once it’s released on consoles).  In other words, expect something great from him eventually.

2)  It demonstrates how Kojima resents obligations when he’s trying to work on something he cares about.  This might seem unremarkable, but in the case of Kojima it helps to reinforce the fact that years of being obligated to work on Metal Gear sequels wore him out and made him miserable, to the point where he just wanted Snake to die.  Every time he complains about obligations, I am reminded of that.

Here are the posts:

Had a mtg. in the morning as well as yesterday, and am working on preparing some documents for next week’s biz. trip.¹  Cannot do anything about the “Devil Project” at all.²

Finished an assignment for today from a project, and am now working on preparation for a biz. trip.³  I cannot get back working on the devil project until I finish this. But, since there is so much to do that I cannot finish.¨

Suspiciously similar, so it’s possible that he accidentally repeated himself, or just felt like reminding people.  I like to imagine Kojima sitting at his desk and cursing the company he’s in charge of for getting in the way of his top secret masterpiece.

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